Need to clay before SMR??

[jrush]

Hi all. I'll be doing a decent detail on my wife's silver Acura tomorrow. It's currently protected with Mother's reflections. I plan on using some SMR to get rid of some swirls and my questions is do I need to clay first if there is any raised and imbedded dirt, or will SMR with the PC yellow pad take care of that too? Thanks.

 

[imported_kgb]

Clay first. I always clay first just to get the surface as smooth as possible before polish. Plus, the polish pad will just hold the dirt particles and scratch the paint. The clay will not do this.